Ghana inaugurates National Steering Committee on Shea nut

Tamale, Dec. 10, GNA - Government has inaugurated the National Steering Committee on Shea nut with the task to formulate programmes and strategies for growing and sustaining the industry.

The Steering Committee is also to promote regular advocacy of the National Shea Policy to enable stakeholders to be knowledgeable, interested and deeply involved in the revamping of the industry.

Dr Yaw Kuranchie Percival, Chairman of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), inaugurated the 15-member Steering Committee in Tamale on Friday.

The Steering Committee, which will have its main office in Tamale, is chaired by Dr Yaw Adu Ampomah, who is also Deputy Chief Executive of COCOBOD.

In his address, Vice President, Mr John Dramani Mahama said the revamping of the industry would directly improve the quality of life of poor women in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions and help to achieve some of the objectives of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority.

Mr Mahama said women engaged in picking shea nuts from farms would be provided with protective clothing and other materials to prevent them from snake bites and other attacks and tricycles to help convey their harvest.

About 70 per cent of shea nut remain rotten in the bush because of snake bites and other factors, although the industry contributes about $18 million dollars to the country’s economy.

Mr Mahama said government would add value to shea resource to increase its market value for increased production and improve the living conditions of the poor women who are engaged in the industry.

He said government would not allow unlicensed companies to operate in the industry and called on the COCOBOD to regularise the activities of all corporate entities involved in the business and ensure effect quality control measures.

Mr Mahama cautioned against the use of shea trees to produce charcoal, which he said is gaining notoriety among some of the producing communities.

In a speech read on his behalf, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning said the revamping of the shea industry featured prominently in the National Democratic Congress government’s development agenda for the northern part of the country.

“Government’s approval for the establishment of a Shea Unit under the COCOBOD and the inauguration of this Steering Committee today, therefore, gives meaning to this commitment,” he said.

He said government had fixed the floor price for shea nut purchases at the farm gate at GHc32.00 per bag of 80 kilogram’s, stressing that buyers are not expected to pay any amount below the fixed floor price.

Other members of the Steering Committee are Mr Francis Osei-Owusu, Director of Shea Unit of COCOBOD, Mr William Quaittoo, Research Manager of COCOBOD, Dr Ibrahim Atokple, Plant Breeder of Council for Science and Industrial Research of the Savannah Agriculture Research Institute and Mrs Eugenia Akuete, President of Global Shea Alliance.